CD30 is a 120 kilodalton membrane glycoprotein (Froese et al., 1987, J. Immunol. 139: 2081-87) and a member of the TNF-receptor superfamily. CD30 is a proven marker of malignant cells in Hodgkin lymphoma and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). CD30 was originally identified on cultured Hodgkin's-Reed Steinberg (H-RS) cells using the monoclonal antibody Ki-1 (Schwab et al., 1982, Nature 299:65-67).
CD30 has limited expression on normal tissues in humans. This makes CD30 an attractive target for cancer therapies. CD30 expression has been identified, however, on only a small number of cancers. Further, for some cancers, reporting of CD30 expression has been with antibodies that have non-CD30 related cross-reactivity, such as, for example, Novocastra's NCL-L-CD30 antibody, and is not reliable. It would be helpful to identify cancers that express CD30 and that can be treated using CD30-directed therapies. The present invention addresses this and other needs.